things that people make

This is a terrifying thing to walk through

In Peruvian Andes this is this place called the Sacred Valley. It’s very pretty (this is an understatement, but I want to talk to you about yarn, not about how pretty Sacred Valley is, so we’ll leave it at that) and it’s rather hard to breathe there because of the altitude but you deal because it’s so pretty. It’s known for its Inca sites, and if you go you will find a lot of very poor villages filled with indigenous people. The Inca social system (not just Inca, but nearly every Andean society before it as well) was heavily based on the creation of textiles – textiles for offerings, for taxes, for weddings, funerals, etc. Some of the finest textiles could have thread counts higher than your sheets – your good sheets. And in the Sacred Valley there are still people weaving these things today. We visited a weaver’s co-op in Chinchero, Peru where they prepare, spin, and dye their own wool, and then proceed to weave it. And so, here are some lovely pictures.

Woman spinning. I did not see one spinning wheel the whole time I was there (that being in the whole of South America), they seem to only use drop spindles - that's a lot of spinning

Hand dying yarns


They only use traditional, natural dyes. These are examples of what is used to make each color.


Weaving belts

If you so happen to want to see more pictures of Peru (and Chile!) I have tons, and you can see them here http://www.zooomr.com/photos/beckylynne/sets/